New Health Clinic for Asian Women
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14833 November 15/97 CMAJ /Page 1337 News and analysis biochemistry at the University of the Beijing/Toronto International tors hired later will be given addi- California at San Francisco. Aware- Hospital Project. Construction of the tional training at the hospital. The ness of his work grew when prions first 80-bed phase is to begin this first Canadians on staff will move to were blamed for causing the variant month, with the hospital expected to Beijing about March. of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease that open late in 1998. Eventually it will The hospital will be aimed at the killed several people in England. have 250 beds. foreign-expatriate market, although it That outbreak was tied to meat taken Unlike most foreign-run hospitals may also be available to Chinese em- from cattle that had developed BSE, in China, which employ British or ployees of multinational corporations popularly known as mad cow disease. American managers, the Beijing hos- and entrepreneurs. Wilson Parasiuk, pital will be run by Canadians. Fifty chair of Interhealth Canada China Canada–China hospital staff members, including a medical Inc., says there are 160 000 expatri- being developed director, are currently being re- ates in China and the hospital will fill cruited. Forty percent of medical staff a growing demand for in-country Canadians are playing a key role in will be Canadian, with the first 15 treatment. Today, most foreign pa- developing China’s first joint-venture Canadian doctors being recruited tients with a serious illness are evacu- hospital. Interhealth Canada China next summer. Initially, all Chinese ated. The new hospital hopes to re- Inc., an Ontario company, is majority physicians employed at the hospital ceive Canadian accreditation within 2 owner of the development, known as will be foreign trained; Chinese doc- years of opening. New health clinic for Asian women Vancouver’s Asian Women’s Health higher incidence of cervical cancer health has been developed at the Clinic, which was established in in Asian women than Caucasian clinic, and women undergo screen- 1994 to increase the rate of cervical- women. Asian women generally ing mammography on site. and breast-cancer screening among consider gynecologic care separate Regina Li of SUCCESS, a Chi- Chinese women, has had to expand from the other health issues that nese community agency, says the to meet growing demand. It is now clinic has been “very successful.” located at Mount Saint Joseph Hos- Because of its word-of-mouth popu- pital, a major centre for multicul- larity, the agency no longer needs to tural facilities, and has tripled the promote the facility. Li says most of number of hours it is open because its clients have immigrated to of the area’s continuing influx of Canada within the last 3 years and immigrants. are attracted to it because of its fe- The clinic addresses language male physicians. Only about half re- and cultural barriers that make quire their doctor to speak Chinese, women leery of seeking gyneco- since they possess adequate English. logic and breast examinations by Dr. Lois Yelland, medical health employing only female doctors who officer for Vancouver’s East Health speak Mandarin and Cantonese. Unit, says the sheer numbers of Dr. Lorna Sent, the medical direc- Asian women needing service tor, says male physicians, even those prompted the decision to open a who speak a Chinese dialect, pre- clinic dedicated to them. Other sent the major cultural barrier to clinics have taken a different ap- these women. There are still rela- proach. The Bridge Clinic, which is tively few female physicians of Chi- also at Mount St. Joseph Hospital, nese descent living in BC’s Lower Dr. Lorna Sent: Male MDs a barrier for attracts women from diverse ethnic Mainland. More than 40% of female Asian patients? backgrounds. Its goal is to help women using the clinic for the first women adapt to the Canadian time had never had a breast exami- bring them to a family doctor’s of- health care system by encouraging nation. fice, explains Sent. Educational ma- them to seek care from their own As well, studies indicate a far terial on Pap smears and breast family doctors. © — Heather Kent CAN MED ASSOC J • NOV. 15, 1997; 157 (10) 1337 14833 November 15/97 CMAJ /Page 1338 Nouvelles et analyses Ontario’s Hamilton Health Sci- Religious leaders give organ geons of Ontario, says many physi- ences Centre is playing a key role, for donation a boost cians are grappling over whether to once the Chinese hospital is operating review surveillance videotapes made the Hamilton site will act as a In an unprecedented display of by insurance companies when they telemedicine consulting base. John unity, leaders from different reli- complete independent medical exam- Tegenfeldt, CEO with the Vancou- gious communities rose and signed a inations (IME) in injury cases. The ver/Richmond Health Board who will giant organ-donor card at the Ot- college says videotapes present po- assume the same post with the Chi- tawa headquarters of the Kidney tential pitfalls, which range from nese hospital in December, says spe- Foundation of Canada in October. questions about the actual identity of cialized radiological images may be Those affixing their names included the subject if the tape is poorly sent to Hamilton for interpretation, Roman Catholic Archbishop Marcel recorded to viewing videotapes after with the Canadian hospital function- Gervais, Rabbi Reuven Bulka, Dr. conducting the IME, thereby elimi- ing as a “tertiary referral centre.” Madhu Sahasrabudhe of the Hindu nating the patient’s chance to explain Down the road, Canadian doctors community, Dr. Mukhtar Malik, or clarify its contents. can expect more employment op- president of the Ottawa Muslim As- Dr. John Carlisle, the college’s portunities in China. Interhealth sociation, and Quasem Mahmud, deputy registrar, says physicians who Canada China Inc. has been licensed chair of the Islamic Schools Federa- do not feel they are experienced to build 8 primary care medical cen- tion of Ottawa. In all, 10 religious enough to interpret videotaped ma- tres in other cities, including Shang- leaders signed the card. terial or are unsure how it was made hai. All of the sites have a local pop- The foundation says the initiative may refuse to comment on it. Physi- ulation of at least 3 million people, comes at a crucial time because hos- cians who screen videotaped mater- as well as significant numbers of ex- pitals are reporting a critical short- ial should tell patients the evidence patriates. — © Heather Kent age of donated organs. “At the same will be part of their assessment. time,” says the foundation, “people Impact of national on long waiting lists are dying every Shortage of re-entry pharmacare plan studied day. We believe that people often positions tackled decide against signing their donor on East Coast A fully funded, comprehensive and cards because doing so will deny publicly administered national phar- them a proper religious burial or will Nova Scotia has approved a pro- macare program would increase pub- somehow be against their religion.” posal to provide additional post- lic spending on prescription drugs by The foundation, which says about graduate specialty training for about $4.3 billion per year, a study 16% of Canadians consider their reli- physicians already in practice, with completed for the Pharmaceutical gion a barrier to organ donation, 12 new positions being made avail- Manufacturers Association of Canada hope the signatures will help to “dis- able annually at Dalhousie Univer- has revealed. The study, released at pel a widespread myth that donating sity. The shortage of postgraduate the PMAC’s annual meeting this fall, organs is contrary to religious be- positions has caused numerous indicated that prescription drugs cost liefs.” complaints across Canada because Canadians about $6.8 billion in 1996, “This is the best thing you can do physicians who want additional with provincial drug plans covering with your life — to save someone training have found themselves 44% of the cost. “Overall,” said the else’s life,” Bulka told the Ottawa Sun. locked out of the system because study, “the best opportunity for a na- “We want to escalate this to the point new graduates are taking up all tional pharmacare program is a com- where it’s not even a choice — it is a available training slots. Pulse, the bined public/private plan with a 25% duty of the individual.” Gervais, newsletter of the Medical Society of copayment, as is the case in Quebec, whose niece is an organ recipient, Prince Edward Island, says that or a plan in which the patient pays agreed that some people worry that province is trying to determine if the dispensing fee. In both cases the religion frowns upon organ donation. any island physicians wish to apply impact on public and private plans is “I don’t understand it,” he said. for the Nova Scotia positions, which an increase of less than 10%.” The will be available at Dalhousie Uni- National Forum on Health proposed Things aren’t always as they versity. Approval of funding for a the introduction of a national plan appear position, which will cost $38 000 a last February, and the idea is cur- year, will not be approved by the rently being considered by the federal Member’s Dialogue, a publication of PEI government until an area of government. the College of Physicians and Sur- need had been identified. 1338 CAN MED ASSOC J • 15 NOV. 1997; 157 (10).